CN107209018B - Method and apparatus for providing point of interest information - Google Patents

Abstract

An embodiment of the present invention provides a method of providing data associated with a point of interest, POI, comprising: determining a portion of digital map data for a geographic area based on a location of a POI, the digital map data comprising a plurality of line segments representing navigable elements of a navigable network within the geographic area; and generating POI map data associated with the POI indicative of at least some line segments within the portion of digital map data.

Description

Method and apparatus for providing point of interest information

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present invention relate to methods and apparatus for providing data associated with a point of interest (POI). Embodiments of the present invention further relate to methods and apparatus for providing information associated with a point of interest, for example, based on data associated with a POI.

Background

Mobile electronic devices, such as smart phones, portable navigation devices, and integrated navigation systems, that include GNSS (global navigation satellite system) signal reception and processing functionality are well known and widely used as in-vehicle or other vehicle navigation systems. In summary, known electronic devices with navigation functionality include a processor, memory (at least one and typically both of volatile and non-volatile memory), and digital map data stored within the memory. The processor and memory cooperate to provide an execution environment within which a software operating system may be built, and additionally typically provide one or more additional software programs to enable control of the functionality of the mobile device/PND and to provide various other functions.

Such devices also include a GNSS antenna, such as a GPS antenna, by means of which satellite broadcast signals including location data can be received and subsequently processed to determine the current location of the device in relation to the digital map. The device may also include an electronic gyroscope and an accelerometer that generate signals that may be processed to determine a current angular acceleration and a linear acceleration. The determined acceleration may then be used in conjunction with location information derived from the GPS signals to determine the velocity and relative displacement of the device, and thus the velocity and relative displacement of the vehicle in which the device is typically installed. Such sensors are most commonly provided in-car navigation systems, but may also be provided in the mobile device/PND itself.

In recent years, such devices have also been used in systems to alert a driver when the driver is near a known location of a point of interest (POI), which may be: speed limit devices (i.e., speed traps and overspeed cameras); road danger areas, such as school areas, accident black spots, road construction; and weather hazards such as black ice, snow, flood, and potting rain, mountain fire, and the like. A speed camera is typically provided at a location known to represent an accident black spot to slow down traffic, and may itself represent a danger zone, as other road users may suddenly and unexpectedly brake (which is a common response by some drivers when seeing a speed limiter). The device that warns the driver of the presence of the speed limiter improves the safety of the driver because it warns the driver of the location of such danger zones.

In such systems, a device having a GPS antenna and having access to a database containing the location of points of interest (POIs) is typically provided in a vehicle. The device is configured to alert the driver when a vehicle using location information derived from GPS signals approaches the location of a POI stored in the database.

In some systems, such as when the device is a navigation device and comprises a digital map representing a navigable network (e.g. a road network), information about the POIs, including their locations, is typically contained in the digital map. A digital map (or mathematical graph, as it is sometimes known) in its simplest form is in fact a database containing data representing nodes, most commonly lines between road intersections and those nodes representing roads between those intersections. In a more detailed digital map, a line may be divided into line segments defined by a start node and an end node. These nodes may be "real", in that: it represents a minimum of 3 line or line segment intersecting road intersections, or it may be "artificial" in that: providing it as an anchor point for a line segment that is not bounded at one or both ends by real nodes, to provide (among other things) shape information for a particular road, or to identify ways along a road where some characteristic of the road (e.g., speed limit) changes. The line segments of the numbered map are typically referenced to provide the location of the POI, although the digital map will typically also contain the geographic coordinates of the POI, such as longitude and latitude. Thus, when the current location of the device matches the digital map, then an alert or other information about the POI may be provided as the current location of the device moves along the line segment associated with the POI. This allows warnings or other information to be provided only if needed, however, it typically requires significant storage space on the device for digital map data.

It is also known to provide alerts and other information about POIs in other systems without the use of digital maps. In such systems, the location of a POI is stored as geographic coordinates (e.g., longitude and latitude) in a data repository typically stored locally on the mobile device, but the location may be periodically updated by the mobile device, for example, receiving updates from a central server through wireless communication. In these systems, a search area, typically in the form of a cone, is defined at the front of the device, and the user is provided with warnings and other information about any POIs falling within this search area. While this significantly reduces the storage space required on the device, it can result in several unnecessary warnings and alerts being provided to the user. This is demonstrated in fig. 1A, 1B and 1C. Fig. 1A illustrates an example of a false negative (i.e., no warning or too late warning) due to a curved road. In this example, the device is from the top left, and the cone, i.e., the search area, will miss the POI due to the curve of the road (in this case, it is a speed camera). FIGS. 1B and 1C illustrate examples of false positives, i.e., warnings of POIs that are irrelevant or will not be passed through; usually found when the roads are parallel.

It is an object of embodiments of the present invention to at least mitigate one or more of the problems of the prior art.

Disclosure of Invention

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing data associated with a point of interest (POI), comprising:

determining a portion of digital map data for a geographic area based on a location of a POI, the digital map data comprising a plurality of line segments representing navigable elements of a navigable network within the geographic area; and

generating POI map data associated with the POI indicating at least some line segments within the portion of digital map data.

In an embodiment, the determination of the portion of the digital map data may include determining a range of the POI map based on a radius from a location of the POI. Alternatively, the determination of the portion of the digital map data may comprise determining a range of the POI map based on one or more routes to the POI. In this embodiment, the method may comprise determining a plurality of routes to POIs and a range for each route.

The term "line segment" as used herein has its ordinary meaning in the art. A line segment may be a navigable element (or link) connecting two nodes or any portion thereof. Although embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to road segments, it should be recognized that the present invention may also be applied to other navigable line segments, such as line segments of a path, river, canal, cycle path, trail, railway line, or the like. For ease of reference, these segments are commonly referred to as road segments, but any reference to a "road segment" may be replaced by a reference to a "navigable segment" or any particular type of such segment. The nodes of the navigable network, as represented by digital (or electronic) map data, include nodes representing nodes (e.g., junctions, intersections, etc.) of segments in the real world connecting the navigable network. The nodes represented by the electronic map data may also include artificial nodes that do not represent nodes in the real world. For example, artificial nodes may be added when the speed limit along the navigable element changes. Similarly, and as discussed in more detail below, artificial nodes may be added at the location of points of interest (POIs) along the navigable element.

In an embodiment, the POI may be a speed limiting device (SED), and the portion of the digital map data may be determined based on a warning time or a warning distance to the SED.

The method may comprise selecting a POI from a database storing a plurality of POIs.

The method may comprise generating POI map data comprising inserting a node into the digital map data at a location of the POI. In an embodiment, the method comprises storing one or more attributes indicative of characteristics of a POI associated with a node. In an embodiment, the POI is an SED, and the one or more attributes indicate one or both of a type of the SED and a direction of the SED.

The generating of POI map data may comprise storing an attribute associated with the data indicative of the at least one road segment, wherein the attribute indicates that the road segment has a lower probability of leading to a POI. A probability of access to a POI may be determined based on an angle between the road segment and the road segment associated with the POI. Additionally or alternatively, the generating of the POI map data may comprise determining one or more road segments from which the POI cannot be reached. Additionally or alternatively, the generating of POI map data may comprise storing attributes associated with data indicative of one or more road segments from which the POI cannot be reached.

The method may include storing POI map data in a database. The POI map data may be stored in association with cells indicating map regions.

Viewed from a further aspect, the present invention provides a computing device (e.g. a server) arranged to provide data associated with a point of interest (POI), comprising:

means for determining a digital map data portion of a geographic area based on a location of a POI, the digital map data comprising a plurality of line segments representing navigable elements of a navigable network within the geographic area; and

means for generating POI map data associated with the POI indicating at least some line segments within a portion of the digital map data.

The present invention is a computer-implemented invention. Means for performing any of the method steps may comprise a set of one or more processors configured (e.g., programmed) to perform any of the method steps. A given step may be implemented using the same or a different set of processors as any other step. Any given step may be implemented using a combination of a set of processors.

The computing device (e.g., server) may include means for storing the generated POI map data in a data storage device.

A computing device (e.g. a server) may be operably connected to communication means arranged to cause POI map data to be generated, at least in part, to one or more mobile devices.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing information associated with a point of interest (POI), comprising:

transmitting location information indicative of the determined geographic location of the portable device to a server computer;

receiving at least one POI map from the server computer based on the location information, wherein each POI map is associated with at least one POI and comprises line segments representing navigable elements of a navigable network;

determining a line segment of the received POI map corresponding to the determined geographic location of the portable device; and

outputting a notification associated with a POI of the received POI map based on the navigable line segment.

The POI map may include attributes associated with at least some of the line segments that indicate a likelihood that the line segment leads to the POI. The type of notification may be based on attributes. The attribute may have a value indicating an associated line segment that does not lead to the POI; when the location information corresponds to a line segment, outputting of a notification associated with the POI may be prevented.

The line segments of each POI map may indicate line segments that are at least within one of a predetermined distance or a predetermined travel time of the POI. In an embodiment, the POI is a speed limiting device, and the predetermined distance is a predetermined warning distance, and the predetermined travel time is a predetermined warning time.

A line segment corresponding to the determined geographic location may be determined based on the line segment and a bounded region around the geographic location.

In an embodiment, the determination as to whether to utilize the POI map is based on one of a distance between the geographic location and the POI, and a range of the geographic location and the POI map. The POI map may be utilized when the distance is less than the first distance. Additionally or alternatively, when the distance is greater than the second distance, use of the POI map may be ceased.

In an embodiment, the received at least one POI map may be stored in a memory associated with the apparatus. The POI map may be deleted from memory based on the geographic location of the device. For example, a POI map may be deleted when the geographic location is more than a predetermined distance away from a POI associated with the POI map.

Viewed from a further aspect the present invention provides a portable device (e.g. a navigation device) arranged to provide information associated with a point of interest (POI), comprising:

means for transmitting location information indicative of the determined geographic location of the portable device to a server computer;

means for receiving at least one POI map from the server computer based on the location information, wherein each POI map is associated with at least one POI and comprises line segments representing navigable elements of a navigable network;

means for determining a line segment of the received POI map corresponding to the determined geographic location of the portable device; and

means for outputting a notification associated with the received POI map based on the navigable route segment.

The present invention is a computer-implemented invention. Means for performing any of the method steps may comprise a set of one or more processors configured (e.g., programmed) to perform any of the method steps. A given step may be implemented using the same or a different set of processors as any other step. Any given step may be performed using a combination of sets of processors.

For example, in an embodiment, a portable (or mobile) device comprises: a location module to determine a geographic location of the apparatus; a communication module for wirelessly communicating with a server computer; and a processor arranged to perform the method steps.

Any of the methods according to the present invention may be implemented at least in part using software (e.g., a computer program). Accordingly, the invention also extends to a computer program comprising computer readable instructions executable to perform a method according to any of the aspects or embodiments of the invention.

The invention correspondingly extends to a computer software carrier including such software which, when used to operate a system or apparatus including data processing means, in conjunction with the data processing means, causes the apparatus or system to carry out the steps of the method of the invention. Such a computer software carrier may be a non-transitory physical storage medium such as a ROM chip, CD ROM or optical disk, or may be a signal such as an electronic signal over a wire, an optical signal or a radio signal (e.g.) to a satellite or the like.

Where not explicitly stated, it should be understood that any of the aspects of the invention may include any or all of the features described in relation to other aspects or embodiments of the invention, provided that the features are not mutually exclusive. In particular, while various embodiments of operations that may be performed in methods and by apparatuses have been described, it should be appreciated that any one or more or all of these operations may be performed in methods and by apparatuses in any combination, as desired and appropriate.

Advantages of these embodiments are set forth below, and further details and features of each of these embodiments are defined in the appended claims and anywhere in the following detailed description.

Drawings

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

1A, 1B and 1C illustrate an exemplary conventional method for determining the presence of a POI for which a warning or information is provided;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary portion of map data including a POI;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary system for generating a POI map;

FIG. 4 illustrates a method for generating a POI map, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate the scope of a POI map, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a representation of map data and a POI map, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary adjacency representation of a POI map;

FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic layout of a navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 shows a method for providing information associated with a POI, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 shows an illustration of a POI map in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 illustrates operation of an embodiment of the present invention with respect to a POI map; and

fig. 12 further illustrates operation of an embodiment of the present invention with respect to a map of POIs.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present invention include methods and apparatus for providing map information associated with a point of interest (POI). The map information is data indicating a navigable path in the vicinity of the respective POI. Further embodiments of the present invention include methods and apparatus for providing information associated with a point of interest (POI), such as notifications or alerts, using received map information associated with the POI. Exemplary embodiments of the invention will be explained with reference to a speed limiting device (e.g. a so-called speed camera, such as a POI), although it will be appreciated that embodiments of the invention are not limited in this respect.

A speed-limiting device (SED) is disposed proximate a portion of a roadway to implement a speed limit associated with the roadway. The SED may be arranged at a location (i.e. at a discrete geographical location) to monitor the speed of the vehicle passing that location, or may be arranged to monitor the speed of the vehicle crossing a stretch of road (e.g. over a 1km (or other length) stretch of road). When the vehicle exceeds a predetermined speed (which may be above the speed limit), then appropriate action may be taken, such as transmitting information associated with the vehicle (e.g., the vehicle's cadastral data or images) to the computer system to take mandatory action. Navigation devices are known to provide a warning when the location of the navigation device is close to the location of the SED.

As discussed above, one existing method of providing such a warning by a navigation device that does not include map data indicative of a road network is to store SED data indicative of the geographical location of the SED that is accessible to the navigation device. The navigation device determines whether the location of the navigation device is within a predetermined distance of the location of the SED and determines whether the heading from the navigation device intersects a cone or angular projection of one or both of the SED. Once the cones or projections intersect, the navigation device is arranged to output a warning indicating the presence of an SED. This approach tends to provide false warnings, for example, if the SED performs a speed limit opposite to the direction of travel of the navigation device, or if the SED is arranged adjacent to the road on which the navigation device is traveling but within a cone or angular projection of the navigation device such that a warning is output (e.g. as shown in fig. 1A, 1B and 1C).

Another existing method of providing warnings involves a navigation device storing map data and SED data (which may be combined with the map data) indicative of a geographical location of an SED associated with the map data (e.g. associated with a segment of the map data). Fig. 2 illustrates a portion ofmap data 100 that includes a plurality of road segments interconnecting a plurality of nodes (not all of which are given reference numbers for clarity). In particular, the map data includes afirst road segment 110 and asecond road segment 120 associated with a first SED 130 and a second SED 140, respectively, the locations of which are indicated by X. The locations of the SED's 130, 140 may be defined with respect to portions of the map data, e.g., the location of the first SED 130 may be defined as being along thesegment 110 from the node 11150 m. It should be appreciated that the location of the SED may be defined in other ways. The navigation device is arranged to match a geographical position of the navigation device with the map data to determine segments of the map data along which the navigation device is travelling. For example, the navigation device may determine, based on the received signals, that its current location corresponds to a location along theroad segment 110. When the navigation device approaches a position on a segment of the road at which the SED 130 is located, the navigation device is arranged to provide a warning. While this approach may provide more accurate warnings, a large amount of storage is required to store the map data and SED data. For example, the map and SED data for one country may be 200 MB. Thus, this approach is less suitable for navigation devices with fewer resources, such as those implemented on general purpose computing devices (e.g., smartphones).

Fig. 3 illustrates asystem 200 according to an embodiment of the invention. Thesystem 200 includes aserver computer 210, a map database 220, a POI database 230 (which in an embodiment is a database of SED, but it will be appreciated that it may be a database of any one or more types of POIs as required), and aPOI map database 250.

Theserver computer 210 may be implemented as one or more computing units arranged to operatively execute a POI map module (POIM) on its at least one processor. Theserver computer 210 is communicatively coupled to a map database 220 and an SED database 230. Theserver computer 210 may store the map database 220 and the SED database 230, or these databases may be provided by another computer system to which theserver computer 210 is communicatively coupled. The map database 220 and the SED database 230 may be provided as separate data structures or may be integrated into a single data structure or database.

The map database 220 is arranged to store digital map data representing navigable real world paths in the network. The map data may be formed from information indicative of line segments interconnecting nodes, where the line segments represent a navigable network. Alternatively, the map data may be formed of nodes having associated attributes, wherein at least some of the attributes indicate connections between nodes having common attributes representing connections therebetween. The connections indicate navigable line segments in the real world. The navigable segments can be segments, but can also be segments of any navigable network (e.g., a circular or path network). It should be appreciated that the map data may be structured in different ways.

The SED database 230 is arranged to store SED data indicative of the location of the speed limiter. The location of the SED may be defined with respect to map data, e.g., the location of the SED 130 may be defined as the distance along the segment from a specified node. Alternatively, the location of the SED may be defined with reference to a location reference system, such as a coordinate system (e.g. longitude and latitude). It should be appreciated that the location of the SED may be defined in other ways. Further, it should also be recognized that SED data may be combined with map data. Although the present invention is described with reference to SEDs, it should be appreciated that SEDs may be data indicative of other types of POIs.

The map database 220 and SED database 230 store map data and SED data, respectively, for a geographic area (e.g., one or more countries or states).

ThePOIM 240 is arranged to generate a POI map based on the map database 220 and the SED database 230. Each POI map includes map data for a geographic area that is smaller than the geographic area for which the map database 220 stores data. In some embodiments, the POI map indicates roads selected in the vicinity of the associated POI, as will be explained. In the case where the POI is an SED, a POI map of the geographic area is generated based on the warning time or distance. Once generated by thePOIM 240, the POI map is stored in thePOI map database 250.

The operation of thePOIM 240 according to embodiments of the invention will be explained with reference to themethod 300 according to embodiments of the invention illustrated in fig. 4 and the example map data shown in fig. 5 and 6. Themethod 300 may be performed by thePOIM 300 that is operatively executed on theserver computer 210.

Themethod 300 includes astep 310 of selecting a POI, such as an SED, instep 310. It is recognized that themethod 300 may be repeated for each of a plurality of POIs. In the case where the POI is an SED, the SED may be selected from the SED database 230. Themethod 300 generates a POI map for the selected POI. While the method is described with reference to SED as an exemplary POI, it should be appreciated that embodiments of the invention are not limited in this respect. A POI may be any location where a feature of interest is present, such as a parking lot, airport, retail store, historic site, and so forth.

Step 320 includes associating the POI with the digital map data portion. In particular,step 320 comprises determining a range of map data associated with the POI, e.g., a location near one or more road segments defined in the map data. In the case where the SED data defines the location of the SED independently of the map data, it may be necessary to associate the selected SED with at least one segment, i.e. to determine which segment in the map data the SED is associated with and the location of the SED along that segment. In some examples, an SED may be associated with a portion of a road segment, i.e., along the length of the road segment, or with multiple road segments, such as from a location along a first road segment to a location along a second road segment. It should be appreciated that some SED are arranged to monitor the speed of a vehicle along a road segment, rather than just the speed of the vehicle at a single point on the road.

As described above, in one embodiment, where the POI is an SED, the scope of the POI map is based on the warning distance or time. In an exemplary embodiment, the range of the POI map is based on a warning time of 15 seconds, but it should be recognized that other warning times may be selected. The range of the POI map is at least a distance that is expected to travel within the warning time such that a warning of the SED may be provided when a road segment defined within the POI map towards the SED is passed. The scope of the POI map may be at least a warning distance from the SED. The range of the POI map may be equal to a distance expected to be performed within a warning time or a warning distance. The distance expected to be traveled during the warning time may be calculated based on the expected maximum speed of travel, which may be based on a speed limit associated with the road segment on which the POI is located. For example, the desired maximum travel speed may be twice the speed limit associated with the road, although other maximum travel speeds may be selected as desired. The POI map may range, for example, less than 5km, less than 2km, or less than 1km from the POI. The POI map may be associated with only one POI.

In one embodiment, the range of the POI map is determined as a circle having a radius corresponding to the range of the POI map. Fig. 5A illustrates a portion of map data from a map database 220 that includes anode 410 connected to threeroad segments 411, 412, 413. The radius corresponding to the distance expected to travel in the warning time or warning distance is illustrated as 420. Thus, in one embodiment, the range of the POI map is based on thecircular portion 430 of the map data of theradius 420. It should be appreciated that the POI map may be unidirectional from the SED, i.e. in the case where the SED is arranged to perform speed limiting in only one direction along the road, it may be considered unnecessary to provide a warning to vehicles travelling in the opposite direction towards the SED. Thus, the range of the POI map need not be circular, and may be, for example, a sector extending from the location of the SED oriented in the direction in which the SED performs the speed limitation.

In another embodiment, the range of the POI map is determined based on at least some routes leading to the location of the POI. That is,step 320 may include determining a location along a route to the POI of the desired travel distance or warning distance, where the location corresponds to a range of the POI map. Therefore, the POI map generated in this way may not have a uniform shape, such as a circle, because the range of the POI map starting from the POI changes according to the straightness of the road segment, i.e., bending the road segment causes the range to decrease in the corresponding advancing direction starting from the POI. For example, referring to FIG. 5A, the range of the POI map along theroad segment 413 may be determined to be a distance 430' that is shorter than thecircular range 420 due to the curvature of theroad segment 413. The distance along allroad segments 411, 412, 413 can be determined and the shape of the POI map determined by connecting the determined locations along each road segment by appropriate curves or straight lines. Advantageously, this method only includes the relevant area in the POI map. In this embodiment, step 320 may include determining all routes to thePOI 410, and determining the scope of the POI map along each of the routes.

In one embodiment, the scope of a POI map is based on attributes of the POI associated with it, such as the type of SED. Fig. 5B illustrates a portion of themap data 450 including theroad segments 451 to 455. The SED is arranged to monitor the speed of the vehicle along aroad segment 454 between afirst location 461 and asecond location 462. In this case, the scope of the POI map may be determined to be between thefirst location 461 and thesecond location 462, as indicated in fig. 5B using dashed lines, the scope of the POI map may encompass the road segment monitored at least in part by the SED, i.e., theroad segment 454 in this example. Some SED's are arranged to monitor the average speed of the vehicle between the first andsecond locations 461, 462 and therefore, only a warning must be provided when passing either the first orsecond locations 461, 462 and therefore, the range of the POI map may be reduced whilst other SED's may monitor the maximum speed of the vehicle between the first andsecond locations 461, 462 and therefore, a warning regarding the entry into theroad segment 454 may be desired. It will therefore be appreciated that in one embodiment, the scope of a map of POIs depends on the type of POI, for example the type of SED.

Step 330 includes determining relevant road segments to include in the POI map. In one embodiment, all road segments in the map database 220 within the range of the POI map are included within the POI map. However, in other embodiments, the POI map includes only selected road segments. The road segments selected may be only those with a higher probability of leading to a POI. A road may have a higher probability of leading to a POI if the road is a road on which the POI is located or a road leading directly to a road on which the POI is located. A road directly leading to the road on which the POI is located may be, for example, a road having less than a predetermined angle between an axis of a road segment proximate to the road segment on which the POI is located and an axis of the road segment on which the POI is located.

FIG. 6 illustrates an area of map data including various roads, including a primary road and surrounding secondary roads. TheSED 510 is located adjacent to the road as indicated in fig. 5. Instep 330, the primary road is determined to be the relevant road because theSED 510 is located on this road. Accordingly, aroad segment 520 corresponding to a main road within the range of the POI map is included in the POI map, as illustrated in fig. 6. To include road segments between the location of theSED 510 and the range of the POI map in the POI map, new nodes may be inserted at locations corresponding to theSED 510 along road segments in the map data stored in the landing map database. It will be appreciated that in the map data stored in the map database 220, there may be no node at the location of theSED 510 due to this being at an intermediate location of the road segment. Nodes may also be inserted to terminate the road segment at the outer range of the POI map. Thus, step 330 may include trimming the road segment to the location of the POI 510 (e.g., SED) and inserting a node at the location of the POI.

Step 340 is optional and may be omitted from some embodiments ofmethod 300. Instep 340, one or more road segments that may lead to theSED 510 are determined. The road segment is a road segment having a probability lower than a certain probability of leading to a POI. A road segment may be considered likely to be passed to theSED 510 if the probability of a vehicle on the road segment passing theSED 510 is less than a predetermined value. In one embodiment, if there is more than a predetermined angle between the axis of the road segment proximate to the road segment on which the POI is located and the axis of the road segment on which the POI is located, the probability of the vehicle passing through theSED 510 is less than a predetermined value. For example, thesegments 530 and 540 shown using dashed lines in fig. 6 are connected to thesegment 520 on which theSED 510 is located. However, angles 531, 541 exist between each road segment androad segment 510. Therefore, theseroad segments 530, 540 are considered to have a lower probability of leading to theSED 510. The data indicatingroad segments 530, 540 in the POI map may be associated with identifiers indicating their respective lower probability of leading to theSED 510.

Step 340 may include identifying one or more categories of road segments each having a lower probability of leading to a POI. For example, a road segment of a road segment on which anSED 510 is positioned via a plurality of turn connections having more than one predetermined angle may be identified as another less likely category and identified using another identifier in a POI map. One or more further kinds of roads may be used by a navigation device having a received POI map and travelling along, for example, theroad segment 530, to generate a warning of theSED 510 that is less severe than when the navigation device is travelling along theroad segment 520. While angles between road segments have been described as providing a basis for one or more lower probabilities, it should be recognized that other attributes or features of road segments may be used to determine lower probabilities.

Step 350 is optional and may be omitted in some embodiments ofmethod 300. Instep 350, one or more road segments within range of the POI map from which the POI cannot be reached are identified. In particular,step 350 may comprise determining one or more road segments that are not associated with an SED.

The POI map is used by the navigation device, for example, to determine whether to alert the user when the user is approaching theSED 510. As explained above, one problem with the prior art is that of issuing false alarms. The navigation device uses the POI map to determine the road segments on which the navigation device or the vehicle associated therewith is travelling. The position determined by the navigation device based on the wireless signals is compared with the position of the road segment in the POI map to determine the appropriate road segment, i.e., the current road segment on which the device is located, and the position of the road segment along the device. In some cases, the vicinity of the navigation device may be relatively densely populated by road segments. For example, the navigation device may be traveling along a road that extends alongside another road, or a raised section or road may pass closely over the top of the road on which the navigation device is positioned. In these cases, the navigation device may erroneously determine that its location corresponds to the road segment on which theSED 510 is located and issue a false warning.

Instep 350, one or more road segments are identified that are within range of the POI map but from which theSED 510 cannot be reached or have a predetermined probability of being less than reachable. These road segments are associated with the appropriate identifiers in the POI map. Thus, if it is determined that the location of the navigation device corresponds to such an identified road segment in the POI map, false warnings can be prevented. Omitting such segments from which it is not possible or is not able to reach theSED 510 may cause the navigation device to determine that its location corresponds to the segment from which theSED 510 can be reached.

Instep 360, a POI map is generated. The POI map is generated by thePOIM 240 outputting POI map data indicating at least the road segment identified instep 330. ThePOIM 240 may also output data indicative of one or both of the road segments identified insteps 340 and 350.

The POI map may be generated as a graph, in particular, an adjacency list. In this adjacency list, data indicating a node is stored in association with the list of adjacent nodes. The segments are indicated by the adjacency of the nodes. For example, fig. 7 shows four nodes:node 0; anode 1; node 2 and node 3, and the directional connection therebetween. The arrangement of fig. 7 may be stored as an adjacency table in the following manner:

the POI map data may comprise data indicative of one or more attributes of each node, such as the geographic location of the node representation. The geographic location may be identified by longitude and latitude coordinates. The node indicating the SED may be associated with an attribute indicating the type of SED. The attributes may indicate, for example, that the SED is a mobile SED, i.e. a portable or mobile SED (as opposed to a fixed SED), the type of SED, e.g. instantaneous speed, maximum speed, average speed, etc. It will be appreciated that in the case where other types of POIs are represented by a node, then appropriate attributes indicative of the POI may be stored.

The POI map data may contain road segment attributes indicative of one or more of the length, speed, and type or classification of the road segment, wherein in some embodiments the type of classification identifies whether the road segment was identified instep 340 or 350, as discussed above.

In some embodiments, the POI map data at least approximately defines an indication of the geometry of each road segment. For example, the geometry of each road segment may be defined based on one or more curves or shape points. In this way, a navigation device receiving POI map data may more accurately determine road segments corresponding to the location of the device based on the geographic location of the node and the geometry of the road segments associated with the node.

Instep 360, the POI map data is stored in thePOI map database 250. Step 360 may include inserting POI map data into a database associated with one or more appropriate identifiers. For example, POI map data may be associated with a geographic area or cells within a geographic area (e.g., a country). The cells may define portions of a geographic area. The geographic area may be divided into a plurality of cells, each associated with one or more POI maps. Thus, instep 360, multiple POI maps, all associated with one cell, may be identified for communication together to navigation devices within that cell or nearby cells.

Instep 370, it is determined whether any additional POIs are still in the map database 220. Themethod 300 may be repeated for each of a plurality of POIs, such as a plurality of SED stored in the SED database 230. If any additional POIs remain in the map database 220, the method returns to step 310 where the next POI is selected. Otherwise, the method ends.

Once themethod 300 has been iteratively repeated for a plurality of POIs, thePOI map database 250 stores POI map data for each of the plurality of POIs. The POI map data indicates at least some road segments in the vicinity of each POI. Themethod 300 may be repeated for a new POI, such as a new SED added to the SED database. For example, data indicating the location of a mobile SED may be added to the SED database 230 and themethod 300 may be repeated for that new SED.

The POI map data may be communicated to the navigation device by theserver computer 210 or another computer communicatively coupled to thePOI map database 250. Theserver computer 210 may receive location data indicative of a location of the navigation device, such as via a wireless communication channel established with the navigation device. In response, theserver 210 determines whether the location of the navigation device is within a predetermined distance of any POIs in thePOI map database 250 and transmits POI map data for those POIs to the navigation device. The predetermined distance may be, for example, 5km or 10 km. In this way, the navigation device is able to accurately determine whether its location corresponds to a road segment associated with a POI, based on POI map data, without it having to store map data for the entire geographic area (e.g., country). The navigation device may delete the stored POI map data after a predetermined time or when the location of the navigation device moves more than a predetermined distance from the POI.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to a navigation device, it should be appreciated that embodiments of the present invention are not so limited. The POI map stored indatabase 250 may be useful for any mobile device. The mobile device includes a processor, memory for storing data, a module for determining the location of the mobile device 150, and a communication module for data communication to enable communication with a server that provides POI map data to the mobile device. The mobile device may be a computing device, such as a smartphone, tablet computer, or laptop computer that operatively executes appropriate software. For example, the mobile device may provide a warning when the location of the device is proximate to the location of the SED. Because SEDs are typically located at locations with high accident rates, such warnings improve security by providing warnings of high accident rate locations. In some examples, such a device may or may not also be capable of providing navigation functionality. The navigation functionality may include the ability for a user to enter at least a destination location to the device and receive route guidance for the location. The mobile device may be a device such as the navigation device described above. Navigation devices are devices used within a vehicle that can provide navigation information related to the current vicinity of the device, such as notifications associated with points of interest proximate to the location of the device. Typically, the mobile device includes navigation satellite signal reception and processing functionality, but it should be recognized that the navigation device is not limited to using navigation satellite signals, and may use other wireless signals, such as Wi-Fi and cellular communication signals for position determination.

It will be appreciated that embodiments of the present invention provide methods and apparatus for providing map data in the vicinity of a point of interest. Map data may be provided to the mobile device, thereby reducing the need for the mobile data to store data for the entire geographic area. The data may be used by the mobile device to provide navigation in the vicinity of the point of interest or to provide notifications associated with the point of interest. In particular, embodiments of the invention may be used to provide a warning of the position of a speed limiter. By providing warnings using map data, the likelihood of false warnings is reduced without incurring storage losses of data storing a geographic area (e.g., a country).

As discussed above, embodiments of the present invention further relate to providing information associated with a POI, such as notifications or alerts, using a mobile device (e.g., a navigation device) based on received map information associated with the POI.

A navigation device storing map information associated with POIs is able to determine navigable line segments or roads on which navigation is located or traveled. In this way, the navigation device is able to accurately determine whether to output information associated with the POI, such as a notification or an alert. The navigation device may also navigate in the vicinity of the POI based on the map information. However, it is not necessary for the navigation device to store maps and POI information for the entire geographic area (e.g., country).

A navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention is a device capable of determining its geographical position from received wireless signals, wirelessly communicating with a server computer to receive map information associated with a POI, and outputting information associated with the POI based on the geographical position of the navigation device. The navigation device may be implemented by a portable computing device executing appropriate software. The software may provide navigation functionality, such as allowing a user to enter at least one desired destination and provide route guidance to the destination. Additionally or alternatively, the software may provide notification or warning functionality of POIs, such as warnings when the navigation device is proximate to the geographic location of the SED. In this sense, the navigation device may be an SED warning device. Thus, for the sake of clarity, it should be appreciated that the navigation device does not necessarily need to be able to provide route planning functionality or guidance functionality, for example in relation to a planned route.

Fig. 8 is an illustrative representation of the electronic components of anavigation device 600 in block component format in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that the block diagram of thenavigation device 600 does not include all components of the navigation device, but only represents many example components.

Thenavigation device 600 is positioned within a housing (not shown). The housing includes aprocessor 610 connected to aninput device 620 and adisplay screen 640.Input device 620 may include a keyboard device, a voice input device, a touch panel, and/or any other known input device for inputting information; anddisplay screen 640 may comprise any type of display screen, such as, for example, an LCD display. In a particularly preferred arrangement, theinput device 620 anddisplay screen 640 are integrated into an integrated input and display device, including a touch pad or touch screen input, such that a user need only touch portions of thedisplay screen 640 to select one of a plurality of display selections or to activate one of a plurality of virtual buttons.

The navigation device may include anoutput device 660, such as an audio output device (e.g., a speaker). Because theoutput device 660 can generate audible information for a user of thenavigation device 600, it should also be understood that theinput device 640 can also include a microphone and software for receiving input voice commands.

In thenavigation device 600, theprocessor 610 is operatively connected to theinput device 620 viaconnection 625 and is arranged to receive input information from theinput device 620 and is operatively connected to at least one of thedisplay screen 640 and theoutput device 660 viaoutput connection 645 to output information thereto. Further, theprocessor 610 is operably coupled to thememory resource 630 via a connection 635 and is further adapted to receive/send information from/to an input/output (I/O)port 670 via aconnection 675, wherein the I/O port 670 is connectable to an I/O device 680 external to thenavigation device 600.Memory resources 630 include, for example, volatile memory, such as Random Access Memory (RAM), and non-volatile memory, such as digital memory, such as flash memory. External I/O device 680 may include, but is not limited to, an external listening device, such as, for example, a headset. The connection to the I/O device 680 may further be a wired or wireless connection to any other external device (car audio unit), for hands-free operation, for example, and/or for voice-activated operation, for connection to an earphone or headset, and/or for connection to a mobile phone, for example, where the mobile phone connection may be used to establish a data connection between thenavigation device 600 and the internet or any other network, and/or to a server, for example, via the internet or some other network.

Fig. 8 further illustrates an operative connection between theprocessor 610 and the antenna/receiver 650 via connection 655, where the antenna/receiver 650 may be a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), such as, for example, GPS, antenna/receiver. It should be understood that the antenna and receiver designated byreference number 650 are schematically combined for illustration, but may be separately located components, and the antenna may be, for example, a GNSS patch antenna or a helical antenna.

Further, it should be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the electronic components shown in FIG. 8 are powered by a power source (not shown) in a conventional manner. As one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, different configurations of the components shown in FIG. 8 may be considered within the scope of the present application. For example, the components shown in fig. 8 may communicate with each other via wired and/or wireless connections and the like. Thus, the scope of thenavigation device 600 of the present application includes a portable orhandheld navigation device 600.

In addition, the portable orhandheld navigation device 600 of fig. 8 may be connected or "docked" to a vehicle (e.g., a motorcycle or automobile) in a known manner. Thisnavigation device 600 can then be removed from the docked position for portable or handheld navigation use.

Thenavigation device 600 may establish a "mobile" or telecommunications network connection with a server, such as a server in communication with thePOI map database 250, via a mobile device (not shown) such as a mobile phone, PDA and/or any device with mobile phone technology that establishes a digital connection such as, for example, a digital connection via known bluetooth technology. After this, the mobile device, through its network service provider, may establish a network connection (e.g., through the internet) with the server. Thus, a "mobile" network connection is established between the navigation device 800 (which may be, and many times is, mobile in that it travels separately and/or in a vehicle) and the server to provide a "real-time" or at least very "up-to-date" information gateway.

Thenavigation device 600 may include its own mobile phone technology (including, for example, an antenna, or optionally using an internal antenna of the navigation device 600) within thenavigation device 600 itself. The mobile phone technology within thenavigation device 600 may include internal components as specified above, and/or may include a pluggable card (e.g., a subscriber identity module or SIM card), along with necessary mobile phone technology and/or an antenna, for example. As such, mobile phone technology within thenavigation device 600 can similarly establish a network connection between thenavigation device 600 and a server via the internet, for example in a manner similar to any mobile device.

Fig. 9 illustrates a method for providing information associated with a POI on anavigation device 600 capable of wirelessly receiving POI map data, for example from thePOI map database 250, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

Themethod 700 comprises astep 710 of determining a position of thenavigation device 600. Step 710 may be performed by thenavigation device 600, determining its location from received wireless signals, such as received satellite navigation signals (e.g., GPS, galileo, etc.), Wi-Fi, telecommunication signals, etc. For example, theprocessor 610 may determine the location of thenavigation device 600 based on GPS signals wirelessly received by theantenna 650. The location may be designated as longitude and latitude, but it should be recognized that other location reference systems may be used.

Instep 720, information indicative of the location is transmitted to a server computer. The information may be communicated from thenavigation device 600 to a server computer to which thenavigation device 600 is communicatively coupled, at least periodically.

It will be appreciated that in some embodiments,steps 710 and 720 may be replaced by steps in which the location of thenavigation device 600 is determined by a server computer. For example, the location of thenavigation device 600 may be determined based on a telecommunications network to which thenavigation device 600 is communicatively coupled.

Step 730 comprises the navigation device receiving one or more POI maps of the form as described above. One or more POI maps are communicated from the server to thenavigation device 600 via a wireless communication channel. The server is arranged to select one or more POI maps communicated to thenavigation device 600. Instep 720, the selection may be made based on information indicative of a location communicated from thenavigation device 600 to the server computer. The server computer is associated with a store of POI maps, such as a database of POI maps, such asdatabase 250 shown in fig. 2. The storage of the POI map may be for a geographic region, such as one or more countries or states, but it should be recognized that these are not limiting. Each POI map is associated with a respective point of interest (POI). In one exemplary embodiment, at least some POI maps are associated with SED.

Referring to fig. 10, the server is arranged to select a POI map for POIs within apredetermined radius 815 of thelocation 810 of thenavigation device 600. It should be recognized that other methods for selecting POIs may be used. For example, a POI within a tile corresponding to (i.e., location remaining within)location 810 may be selected.

In the example illustrated in fig. 10, thefirst POI 825 and thesecond POI 835 are selected to be within aradius 815 of the location of the navigation device. Instep 730, thePOI map 820, 830 associated with thefirst POI 825 and thesecond POI 835 is transmitted from the server to thenavigation device 600. The POI map is then stored in thememory 630 of thenavigation device 600.

Thefirst POI map 820 includes data indicative of afirst POI 825 and aroad 826 proximate to the first POI 825 (only one of which is provided with reference numbers for clarity). Thesecond POI map 830 includes data indicating asecond POI 835 and aroad 836 proximate the second POI 825 (only one of which is provided with reference numbers for clarity).

Referring again to fig. 9, instep 740, it is determined whether the current position of the navigation device corresponds approximately to the area of the POI map. Potentially, the POI map is stored as one of a plurality of POI maps in thememory 630 of thenavigation device 600.

Step 740 is illustrated in more detail in FIG. 11. At a first point in time, the location 910 of thenavigation device 600 is outside the area of the POI map 921 (the periphery of which is indicated in fig. 11). ThePOI map 921 is associated with thePOI 920. Step 710 includes determining whether the location 910 of the navigation device is within afirst distance 915 of an area of thePOI map 921. If the location 910 is within a first distance of the POI map, the POI is selected to provide map data indicative of navigable line segments in the vicinity of thenavigation device 600, as will be explained in detail with reference to step 750.

At a second point in time later than the first point in time, after using the POI map, the position of the navigation device is indicated withreference numeral 950. For example, the navigation device has traveled from the initial location 910 through the area of thePOI map 921. During this period, the POI map data has been used by the navigation device to determine the road segments on which the navigation device is travelling. The POI map data is used until thelocation 950 of the navigation device is more than a second distance 955 from thearea 921 of the POI map. That is, the POI map data is used by the navigation device from a point within the first distance of the area covered by thePOI map 921 until the navigation device is a second distance 955 from the area covered by thePOI map data 921. The second distance 955 is greater than the first distance 910. For example, thefirst distance 915 may be 10m and the second distance 955 may be 25m, although it is recognized that other distances may be used. Thus, the navigation device selects a POI map based on the lag distance. Advantageously, this assists in preventing false notifications of approaching POIs (e.g. SED) occurring, i.e. when the navigation device is travelling close to the periphery of the area of the POI map 921 (e.g. just outside the area of the POI map 921). In this case, if only a single distance is utilized, the navigation device may deselect the POI map and then quickly reselect the POI map, which may cause POI notifications to be generated intermittently.

It should be recognized that in some embodiments, POI map data may not define the extent of the represented geographic area. For example, the POI map data may define the location of thePOI 920 and the locations of roads near the POI without explicitly defining the scope of thegeographic area 921. In this case, the first distance 910 and the second distance 955 may be considered with respect to the location of thePOI 920, i.e., considered as a distance from thePOI 920.

If the location of thenavigation device 600 does not currently correspond to a POI map, the method returns to step 710. Otherwise, if in one embodiment the location 910 is within a first distance of the POI map, the POI map is selected and the method moves to step 750.

Instep 750, it is determined whether the location of the navigation device corresponds to a line segment in the POI map data. That is, it is determined whether a navigation device is present on a road segment defined in the POI map data. Step 750 comprises determining whether the location of the navigation device is within a delimitedarea 935 defined in the map data around eachroad segment 930. It should be appreciated that only one delimited region is illustrated in fig. 11 for clarity. If the location 910, 955 of thenavigation device 600 is not within a delimited area around any road segment in the map data, it is assumed that the navigation device is for example within a vehicle that is "off road" (e.g. in a parking lot). However, if the location 910, 955 is determined to be within thebounded region 935, then the location of the navigation device is determined to correspond to a location on the associatedroad segment 930. The position on the road segment may be determined to be the part of theroad segment 930 closest to the current position of the navigation device.

Instep 760, it is determined that the current line segment is a line segment leading to the POI with which the POI map is associated. The POI map may include data indicating line segments having a lower probability of being passed through or being unreachable from en route to the POI. As an example, a POI may represent an SED, where it is desirable to provide a warning to the user in the event that the user is about to pass by the location of the SED. In some cases, the vicinity of the SED may be relatively densely populated by road segments. For example, the navigation device may travel along a road extending alongside another road, or an elevated section of a road may pass over near the top of the road on which the navigation device is positioned. In these cases, the navigation device may erroneously determine that its location corresponds to the segment on which the SED 910 is located and issue a false warning.

Instep 760, in some embodiments, it is determined whether the navigation device is present on a segment from which the SED 910 cannot be reached or has a predetermined probability of being less than being able to reach the SED 910 based on the attributes associated with the segment selected instep 750. These road segments are associated with appropriate identifiers in the POI map data. Thus, if it is determined that the location of the navigation corresponds to such an identified road segment in the POI map, false warnings can be prevented. For example, roads that are close to the road segment but are not actually the road segment on which the SED is located may be so identified in the POI map data. In this case, the navigation device determines, based on the POI map data, that no notification or warning of the POI is issued, and the method returns to step 740.

As discussed above, fig. 6 illustrates example POI map data indicating the presence of anSED 510 on aroad segment 520.Further road segments 530, 540 are defined in the POI map data and are each associated with an attribute indicating a lower likelihood of exceeding a predetermined size leading to theSED 510 due toangles 531, 541 exceeding the predetermined size attributed to theroad segment 520 over which theSED 510 is positioned. If thenavigation device 600 determines that its position corresponds to one of theline segments 530 or 540, the associated attribute indicates a lower likelihood of passing theSED 510. Thus, instep 770, the navigation device may output a different notification.

Instep 770, a notification associated with the POI is output. In the case where the POI is an SED, the notification may be a warning of proximity to the SED. Step 770 may comprise determining whether thenavigation device 600 is within a warning distance or warning travel time of the SED. In some embodiments, the POI map data may have a range of warning distances or warning times, and thus, if the navigation device is positioned within the POI map, a warning should be output. In other embodiments, the POI map has a range that exceeds the warning distance or warning time. In some embodiments of the invention, the warning time is 15 seconds at the expected speed of travel along the road segment to the POI, and thus step 770 may comprise determining whether the navigation device is within the warning distance, based on the warning time and the expected speed of travel. It should be recognized that other warning times may be used.

If it is determined instep 760 that the line segment on which the navigation device is located is a line segment with a lower likelihood of being associated to a POI, the notification may be a "soft" notification, such as a warning with less impact than if the navigation device was located on a line segment leading to an SED. Thus, the notification type may depend on the attributes associated with the line segment determined instep 760.

As explained above, instep 730, thenavigation device 600 receives POI map data based on the location of thenavigation device 700. The POI map data is stored in thememory 630 of thenavigation device 600. The POI map data stored in thememory 630 is dynamically updated as the position of the navigation device changes.

Figure 12 illustrates theposition 960 of thenavigation device 600 at a first point in time. Instep 730 of themethod 700 illustrated in figure 9, the POI map data of thefirst POI map 986 and thesecond POI map 988 within thefirst area 962 are transferred to thenavigation device 600 and stored in thememory 630 of thenavigation device 600. At a second point in time after the first point in time, thenavigation device 600 has moved 980 to a second location 970. Instep 730, which may be repeated at a second location (or any location in between), the POI map data of thesecond region 972 is updated. Step 730 may include receiving POI map data associated with POIs in thesecond region 972. Step 730 may further comprise clearing thememory 630 of thenavigation device 600 of POI map data for POIs not in thesecond region 972. For example, POI map data forPOI 986 that is present in thefirst area 962 but not in thesecond area 972 may be deleted frommemory 630. Alternatively, the POI map data of thePOI 986 may be marked as not needed and deleted only when thememory 630 is full or reaches a predetermined capacity. Advantageously, the map data stored in memory is maintained at a manageable level, which may be less than the storage capacity used to store map and POI data for an entire geographic area (e.g., country).

It will thus be appreciated that embodiments of the present invention provide a method and apparatus in which a navigation device is provided with map data associated with POIs such that the navigation device can determine navigable line segments proximate POIs on which the navigation device is positioned. Advantageously, errors associated with non-map data based POI notification techniques may be reduced without the necessity of storing map data for the entire area.

It should be understood that embodiments of the present invention can be realized in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. Any such software may be stored in the form of volatile or non-volatile storage, such as, for example, a storage device like ROM, whether erasable or rewritable or not, or in the form of memory, such as, for example, RAM, a memory chip, a device, or an integrated circuit, or may be stored on optically or magnetically readable media, such as, for example, a CD, DVD, a magnetic disk, or a magnetic tape. It should be understood that the storage devices and storage media are embodiments of machine-readable storage devices suitable for storing a program that, when executed, implement embodiments of the present invention. Accordingly, embodiments provide a program comprising code for implementing a system or method as claimed in any preceding claim and a machine readable storage device storing such a program. Still further, embodiments of the invention can be conveyed electronically via any medium, such as communications carried over a wired or wireless connection, and the embodiments suitably encompass the same.

It should be noted that although the appended claims set forth particular combinations of features described herein, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the particular combinations of the following claims, but instead extends to cover any combination of features or embodiments disclosed herein, whether or not that particular combination is explicitly recited in the claims at this time.

Claims (18)

1. A method of providing data associated with a point of interest (POI), comprising:

determining a portion of digital map data for a geographic area based on a location of the POI, the digital map data comprising a plurality of line segments representing navigable elements of a navigable network within the geographic area;

generating POI map data associated with the POI, the generating comprising adding to the POI map data a list of line segments, the list of line segments contained within the portion of the digital map data, the list identifying adjacencies of each of the line segments to others of the line segments;

receiving a location associated with a mobile device; and

transmitting the POI map data to the mobile device for use by the mobile device in providing notifications associated with the POIs when the location associated with the mobile device is within a particular distance of an area associated with the POI map data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the portion of digital map data comprises determining a range of the POI map based on a radius from the location of the POI.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the portion of digital map data comprises determining a range of the POI map based on one or more routes to the POI.

4. The method of claim 3, comprising determining a plurality of routes to the POI and a range for each route.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the POI is a speed limit device, SED, and the portion of the digital map data is determined based on a warning time or a warning distance to the SED.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising selecting the POI from a database storing a plurality of POIs.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the POI map data comprises inserting a node into the digital map data at the location of the POI.

8. The method of claim 7, comprising storing one or more attributes indicative of characteristics of the POI associated with the node.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the POI is an SED and the one or more attributes indicate one or both of a type of SED and a direction of the SED.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the POI map data comprises storing an attribute associated with data indicative of at least one road segment, wherein the attribute indicates that the road segment has a lower probability of leading to the POI.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the probability of leading to the POI is determined based on an angle between the road segment and a road segment associated with the POI.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the POI map data comprises determining one or more road segments from which the POI cannot be reached.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the POI map data comprises storing attributes associated with data indicating one or more road segments from which the POI is not reachable.

14. The method of claim 1, comprising storing the POI map data in a database.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the POI map data is associated with a cell indicative of a geographic area.

16. A computing device arranged to provide data associated with a point of interest, POI, comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

means for determining a portion of digital map data for a geographic area based on the location of the POI, the digital map data comprising a plurality of line segments representing navigable elements of a navigable network within the geographic area; generating POI map data associated with the POI, the generating comprising adding to the POI map data a list of line segments, the list of line segments contained within the portion of the digital map data, the list identifying adjacencies of each of the line segments to others of the line segments;

receiving a location associated with a mobile device; and

transmitting the POI map data to the mobile device for use by the mobile device in providing notifications associated with the POIs when the location associated with the mobile device is within a particular distance of an area associated with the POI map data.

17. The computing device of claim 16, comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing the generated POI map data in a data storage device.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors within a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method of providing data associated with a point of interest, POI, the method comprising:

determining a portion of digital map data for a geographic area based on a location of the POI, the digital map data comprising a plurality of line segments representing navigable elements of a navigable network within the geographic area;

generating POI map data associated with the POI, the generating comprising adding to the POI map data a list of line segments, the list of line segments contained within the portion of the digital map data, the list identifying adjacencies of each of the line segments to others of the line segments;

receiving a location associated with a mobile device; and

transmitting the POI map data to the mobile device for use by the mobile device in providing notifications associated with the POIs when the location associated with the mobile device is within a particular distance of an area associated with the POI map data.

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